The main part of human nature is to persevere in times of hardship. Through innovation and ingenuity, humans have overcome all kinds of crises. Corona-virus has become one of the most severe challenges of our generation. As a result, IEEE Zewail City is hosting the Crisis Engineering Contest to connect civil society, mentors, developers, analytic engineers, innovators, and other related fields to develop new, innovative and engineering-oriented solutions for problems and challenges related directly or indirectly to COVID-19 pandemic by setting an example and basis for future innovators on how to handle this and all future crises. It’s not only by providing solutions for ongoing problems in our time but also to preemptively predict and tackle future hardships. For example, our fellow students and faculty members in Zewail City gathered and made three prototypes for locally assembled affordable ventilators for use in cases of breathing difficulties.

Challenges

I. Medicine and Health

While the corona-virus pandemic is rapidly spreading worldwide, it is causing a considerable degree of fear, worry, and concern in the general population and among certain groups in particular, such as the elderly, care providers, and people with health problems. In general, health systems experience varying levels of stress in the face of increasing infection rates. The government's responses have been solid, and they are expected to strengthen their respective health systems in the coming months. However, the systems cannot cope with the volume of patients requiring care during COVID-19, even if there were no other calls associated with pulmonary, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, metabolic diseases, and cancer. In terms of public mental health, the main psychological impact to date is a high rate of stress or anxiety. But as new measures and impacts are introduced, especially quarantine and its effects on many people's usual activities, routines, or livelihoods, levels of loneliness, depression, harmful use of alcohol and drugs, and self-harm or suicidal behavior should also increase.

Tracks

● Shortage of medical supplies and protective gear and disinfectants.

● Limited ICU units and ventilators unfit for the number of critical
conditions
● Difficulties in tracking the number of infections due to the fast-spreading and latency of the virus.

● What can be done to raise the well-being and psychological state of the students During Pandemic for a better Education/comprehension of knowledge?
● Considering the mental health of essential workers and workers of any industry or private firms, how can these people be assured, and their issues resolved systematically?

II. Economy

In the time of global uncertainty, one of the most crucial categories of challenges is the industrial and financial category. The societies we live in are integral of a co-dependent nature, as in businesses depending on other businesses to outsource or sell goods, leaving us with grave danger for the livelihoods of many. This is why we're looking for innovators, financing specialists, engineers, social contributors, and every citizen concerned about the future of his/her country in the time of the pandemic to join us in finding an innovative solution for one of the industrial and financial challenges we currently face. We are open to more challenges and innovative solutions under this category!

Tracks

● Employees are given paid sick-leaves; this caused a skilled labor shortage.so we are trying to find an alternative way to help employees work from home and decrease the effect of their absence.

● The social behavior of citizens. The lock-down caused a sudden increase in demand to supply in pharmaceutical and nutritional industries, with an opposite decrease in demand to supply in non- essential industries like the electronics industry.

● Designing systems that can handle the institutional load for the function of business and educational purposes.

● Help small and medium-sized enterprises handle the crisis.

● How can the transportation problem be solved in a way that guarantees health safety and does not disrupt the movement of global or commercial transport and the transport of goods or individual movements, whether locally or on an international scale?

III. Education

Almost all countries around the world have momentarily closed educational institutes in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. Schools closure in response to the coronavirus has shed light on various social and economic problems, including student debt, digital learning, food insecurity, and homelessness, as well as access to childcare services, care medical, housing, internet instability. The effect was more substantial for disadvantaged children, causing learning disruptions, child care problems, and the resulting financial cost to families who did not have the means to work.

Tracks

● How can you establish/guarantee an effective sustainable Online Learning process?

● Not all students have access to a reliable internet connection.

● Substitute practical hands-on experience & face-to-face presentation and negotiation skills.

● The social aspect of a student mental support system.

• Functionality and Meaningfulness
  
• Technical Feasibility
  
• Innovation and Uniqueness
  
• Business Potential Impact
  
• Long-term Sustainability